I'm back! Welcome to the Day 10 recap.
Day 10
CITIES
We woke up in sunny Providence, RI this morning. After finishing up in Providence, we headed to Plainville, MA (which was lovely). After Plainville and a much-needed stop at Target (the Target we pillaged and plundered deserves to be named a city unto itself, as it was massive), we moved on to Concord, MA then Cambridge, MA.
BOOKSTORES
An Unlikely Story
To preface, I have read about this little store in a lot of literary magazine articles, online pieces, and bookstore coffee table books. (yes, these exist. yes, I have acquired quite the collection of them. no, I do not have a coffee table of my own.) An Unlikely Story certainly did not disappoint. As soon as I walked in, I knew this store was a special place; the community's place; a place especially pertinent in the lives of Plainville kids. With a whimsical Harry Potter theme, quidditch brooms and letters hung from the ceiling, An Unlikely Story certainly had me feeling the magic. The children's area was straight out of an author's memoir in the chapter on their childhood where they began to love literature. I loved seeing books come alive with bold color, inventive endcaps and positioning, and exciting marketing directed specifically at kids. The adult sections were equally lovely, but An Unlikely Story prioritizes kids' reading, training the next generation of bibliophiles that reading can truly be fun.
LIBRARIES
Libraries at Brown University
We visited two libraries at Brown today including the Hay (the John Hay Library) and the Rock (the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library), as they are most lovingly known by students. Both libraries were impressive (I mean, this is an Ivy League School); however, I was most taken by the beauty of the Hay. Opposite the iconic Van Wickle Gates of Brown, the Hay Library houses the university's rare books and manuscripts. Andrew Carnegie himself donated $150,000 ($4.52 million in 2022 USD) to the university to construct the library. The Hay was designed by Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge in the Beaux, Arts style. It was opened on September 24, 1910. Though I would be born just eight days over 94 years later, I was still able to enjoy to beauty and grandeur of Carnegie's generosity and the foresight of the university to acquire their special collections.
AUTHOR'S HOUSES
Louisa May Alcott's Orchard Home
While in Concord, MA, we had to visit the home of the Alcott family: the birthplace and setting of the world-famous 19th-century novel, Little Women.
In 1857, Amos Bronson Alcott purchased 12 acres of historic land already stacked with prominent authors and philosophers like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He purchased the land and the manor built in the 1660s for $945. Bronson rolled a tenant house down the hill on logs and attached it to the original orchard house to accommodate his large family: his wife, who his daughters affectionately called Marmie, and his four daughters, Anna, Louisa May, Beth, and May.
Louisa May Alcott grew up around literature and philosophy. Thoreau, Emerson, and other locals enjoyed the Alcott family's famous hospitatlity while the family benefitted from their guests' lively discussions of philosophy, education, literature, and politics. The daughters put on intricate theatricals in their parent's bedroom and the parlor during which they would dash up the back staircase behind the makeshift curtain into the littlest sister's room for quick changes.
Writing characters for her sisters is where Louisa May got her start in writing. Her father hand made her a half-moon-shaped desk as a vote of confidence in her writing, while her mother gave her a quality pen in support of her daughter's interest. Louisa May wrote Little Women between the months of May and July in 1868. She was able to write the first volume in such a short period of time because she would write for up to 12 hours per day. She also taught herself to be ambidextrous, so whenever one hand would cramp, she could easily and legibly switch to the other hand.
Little Women is, in fact, based on Louisa May Alcott's own family and her own life. March is a play on her mother's maiden name, her youngest sister's name, and her own middle name: May. March is another month of the year starting with the letter ‘m.’ The four March sisters are the four Alcott sisters, never straying too far from the actual truth of their lives and interests. Anna, the eldest, is Meg. Louisa is Jo (the independent writer). Beth is Beth (who was both extremely angelic and died young of sickness in real life.). May is Amy (the spoiled artist both in the book and in reality).
I really enjoyed learning the ins and outs of this true classic.
Check back in tomorrow for another recap!
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